Marci Brockmann is a multi-passionate woman – an artist, an author, a podcaster, and an English teacher. She has been writing expressively in journals for 35 years which became the basis of her two new books, Permission to Land: Searching for Love, Home & Belonging, and Permission to Land: Personal Transformation Through Writing, and her podcast Permission to Heal. She lives in New York with her husband, their grown kids, frisky cats, and many fishes.
PERMISSION TO LAND: SEARCHING FOR LOVE, HOME & BELONGING is a memoir about surviving narcissistic abuse and addiction and learning to thrive and love yourself to build a life of love, joy, success, and friendship. She survived familial mental illness and addiction, emotional abuse and neglect, an emotionally abusive marriage and in her book, she shares her story and experiences to empower others to trust their inner voices and to live their best lives of love, home and true belonging.
She also wrote PERMISSION TO LAND: PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH WRITING which is a guided expressive writing journal with over 100 pages of writing prompts to help you uncover your past, illuminate your present, and guide you into your own bright, hopeful future with more clarity, awareness, and confidence than ever before.
The PERMISSION TO HEAL Podcast is a direct outgrowth of Marci Brockmann’s concept of giving ourselves permission to be our authentic selves, permission to be relentlessly self-compassionate, permission to focus on our dreams, and permission to heal ourselves as we build the rich, abundant life we richly deserve. She has open-hearted conversations with her guests exploring wonderful and inspiring ways we can all heal ourselves and help each other grow every day. It is now on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon/Audible, Pandora, and Spotify.
We all need hope and inspiration.
We all need hope to break the destructive bonds of trauma.
We all need these tools to help you get in touch with your past, make sense of memories and behavioral patterns, and then to discover your truest hopes and dreams for your beautiful life.
Marci Brockmann’s books and podcast will help YOU on YOUR journey.
Where did the idea for MarciBrockmann.com come from?
My “company” doesn’t really have a name like you’d think. I am an author, an artist, a podcaster, an educator. My website and “brand” is myself. MarciBrockmann.com.
But the concept of permission is a pivotal one for me and that is what I share.
The concept of giving myself permission became pivotal to me and dominated my mental health journey, my therapy sessions, and my journal writing. In the first article I wrote for Elephant Journal on January 1, 2015, “Choosing our People Wisely,“ I wrote:
“Lost in the fog, I was an airplane endlessly circling an airport without permission to land. I wanted to be in my world, not hovering over it. How does one actually live one’s life?”
All that I was longing for in the world was really inside me all along. Realizing this was a ruby slippers moment. I had the power all along.
It was liberating to realize I had to give myself permission to claim it. I didn’t need to look to other people to give these things to me. I had the power to create them all along. Only I could give myself permission to explore the world and my inner self to build the life of my dreams.
This concept of giving oneself the permission to do that which we secretly desired is palpable and shared by so very many people. I knew I wanted to talk to all of them and share my story—all our stories—with them, but I struggled to figure out how.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I am a public high school English teacher, so my day starts at 5 am and I teach from 7am-2pm. After that my day is devoted to a blend of schoolwork, podcast creation – finding and procuring guests and researching for episode conversations, recording episodes, or doing all the tech on them. (I am a one-woman operation with no budget – it’s all me.)
I spend time on social media chatting with my Facebook group Permission to Heal…Safe to Fly, I post on Instagram and LinkedIn to promote my podcast and my books and continue to build my audience and community.
I also spend time writing for various publications and keeping up with my 35+ year personal journal and painting. I am also a visual artist.
Then in my downtime, I spend time with my husband and any of our kids who happen to be around. We love trying new restaurants and seeing movies. Really, exploring anything cultural thrills us.
How do you bring ideas to life?
For me writing in my journal and meditating are great idea launch pads. Sitting quietly and writing always helps me think of new ideas. The meditative power of painting and walking are great creative outlets and inspirations as well.
And as a lifelong reader, I find ideas in everything I read (and listen to – podcasts and audiobooks). Every idea connects with something else and fashions something new. I think many creative people are like this. We see connections in things and turn them around and inside out and viola! there is a new thing or idea.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Recently, I heard Brené Brown talk about the power of play to make us happy and tune us into what our deepest heart needs. I don’t know if it’s a trend, but I love the idea of play. Doing something 100% because it is fun. Not because it’s going to teach me anything or make me a “better” person, but just because it is fun.
My husband and I play games like Phase 10, Scrabble, and Catan with our kids and friends. For Hanukkah this year, he bought me a Switch videogame system and I’m relaxing while playing “Animal Crossing.” This is definitely NOT something I would have ever guessed I would have ever loved because I’ve always spent so much downtime improving myself and learning. But there is something so ZEN about this game and spending time in play. Many psychologists consider play as “a form of exercise for creative dispositions—for imagination, for curiosity, for fantasy. [They] believe it has a vital role in human development” (Elkind, David. The Power of Play. https://www.journalofplay.org/
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
I love learning and am great at teaching myself things through reading, videos, and jumping in and doing the thing. I am not afraid of failure. To me, the only way to fail is not to try.
What advice would you give your younger self?
This is a question I always ask my podcast guests. It’s cool to be able to answer it myself. I would tell my younger self that she is worthy of love, respect, and belonging just for being herself. That she doesn’t have to prove her worth by pleasing others, she is worthy just by being herself. I spent too many years as a people pleaser, ignoring my own feelings and needs.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Sometimes staying up to all hours of the night while working on something creative is the best way to get in touch with the deepest part of your heart and soul. I find that my creativity –writing or painting – sometimes is the easiest to access in the middle of the night while everyone else is asleep. I find that quiet time almost holy. It allows me to connect with something primal within myself and while I was writing my memoir – Permission to Land – middle of the night writing sessions allowed me to connect to memories and feelings that were held very deeply inside myself that I was wholly unable to access during the day.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Keep trying. Be resilient and creative. Don’t take no for an answer. I keep trying things over and over until I get it right, or until I get the results I want. I don’t give up. Learning and growing are long-term practices that require passion and dedication.
There are so many success stories of people who didn’t give up on their dreams. If you have a dream, keep at it until it grows and becomes what you want.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
I keep talking about it and sharing my ideas with the people I think would benefit from my messaging and with people I think might be able to help me. As we share our ideas, we refine our story and mission, and we connect with others in deeply rich ways that fosters caring and empathy. This helps us grow our creativity and community.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
Before I wrote my books or started my podcast, I began an online art gallery to sell my art and the art of a few Long Island artists. Trying as hard as I could, I couldn’t get it off the ground. I had trouble with messaging and couldn’t build momentum. Eventually, I realized that I might sell a painting here or there, but I didn’t have the passion to commit myself to do what I needed to make this business thrive.
So, I pivoted to things that I would discover were my true passions all along – and this became my books and podcast, etc… I hope to take on speaking engagements in the future as well.
I’ll always paint. I love creating visual art and will always sell my art and give it as gifts, but it isn’t going to be the bread and butter of MarciBrockmann.com.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I think someone should develop an app that helps people decide what to watch on television¬ – episodic shows and movies – along with the streaming service or channel with which to view it. I don’t know how to code or develop this at all, but I think it’s a great idea. The streaming services could pay the app to be listed so the consumer would get the service for free.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
The best $100 or ($55) that I recently spent was the tuition for the Be Seen on TV Bootcamp course given by Jen Gottlieb and Chris Winfield of Super Connector Media. (https://www.beontvbootcamp.com/live)
This course opened my eyes to the power of media in helping me share my ideas with lots of people and expand my reach. Jen and Chris taught me how to concisely communicate my messaging, and write simple, clear pitches to TV producers, print media editors, journalists, podcasters, etc… to help them create content they need for their audiences and help me be of benefit to more people. It was a life changer and a total game changer for me.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?
I use Canva.com every day to create graphics, designs, IG posts, Facebook posts, my logo, etc… anything visual. It’s free to use, but for a small monthly subscription, you get access to thousands of images and templates to use on all your design needs.
It’s so easy to use – within a few minutes you can be your own graphic designer.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
Everything is Figureoutable, by Marie Forleo. This is a book about resilience and sticktoitiveness. It will retrain your brain to think more creatively and positively in the face of setbacks and to develop Everything is Figureoutable as your own personal mantra.
“Marie’s mom once told her, “Nothing in life is that complicated. You can do whatever you set your mind to if you roll up your sleeves. Everything is figureoutable.”
Whether you want to leave a dead-end job, break an addiction, learn to dance, heal a relationship, or grow a business, Everything is Figureoutable will show you how.
You’ll learn:
• The habit that makes it 42% more likely you’ll achieve your goals.
• How to overcome a lack of time and money.
• How to deal with criticism and imposter syndrome.
It’s more than just a fun phrase to say. It’s a philosophy of relentless optimism. A mindset. A mantra. A conviction.” (Amazon)
What is your favorite quote?
“The only way out is through” – from the poem “Servant of Servants” by Robert Frost:
Len says one steady pull more ought to do it.
He says the best way out is always through.
And I agree to that, or in so far
As that I can see no way out but through —
Leastways for me — and then they’ll be convinced.
Every journey has its twists and turns. You may not be able to see where you’re heading around the next turn, but the fact is there is a path. That path is your story. Keep following it. Stay the course. The only way to heal, to fix or solve any problem, to find your way out of any confusion or pain is to keep going. The only way out is through.
I believe it so strongly I had it tattooed on my arm. (I’ll share the picture with you for the article if you want.)
Key Learnings:
• Just by being your authentic self you are valuable and worthy of love and belonging.
• The only way out is through. The only way to grow, heal or learn is to permit yourself to process the whole experience or memory or feeling.
• Empathy is created when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and share our stories with others.
• Through a regular practice of journal writing, you can learn to be self-compassionate, heal from past trauma, focus on your dreams, and within yourself find the tools necessary to build the life of abundance and love you richly deserve.
Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.